Oreta presses for job creation measures

Amid reports that 70,000 Filipinos lost their jobs in the seven months to July, opposition Sen. Teresa Aquino Oreta urged Malacañang yesterday to push a bipartisan initiative aimed at stimulating the economy.

She said there was a need to create enough jobs in the face of a global economic meltdown made worse by the Sept. 11 havoc in the United States.

Oreta said the central role that the Senate minority had played in the speedy passage of the anti-money laundering law shows that opposition lawmakers could again cross party lines.

An economic stimulus program, she said, could include more incentives for investments in the information and communications technology (ICT) field along with other sectors in which the Filipino workforce has a competitive edge.

The program can also include skills retraining and emergency livelihood programs for workers who may lose their jobs.

"Preserving jobs and creating new ones should top Malacañang’s concerns in the wake of the grim unemployment picture here and abroad that has even become bleaker with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US," Oreta said.

"Malacanang should give No. 1 priority to crafting a job-friendly economic stimulus program — and muster bipartisan support behind it," she added.

Officials statistics released over the weekend showed that the closure of some 1,900 commercials establishments cut over 70,300 jobs during the January-July 2001 period.

More workers are expected by the labor department to be dislocated as a result of the deepening economic crunch. According to Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics figures, the number of firms that will close shop are projected to hit 1,979 as of end-September, or almost double the annual average of 1,100 companies that folded up in recent years.

"In case the Arroyo administration draws up soon enough a comprehensive economic stimulus program," Oreta said, "I don’t see why the opposition will not support it, considering that the Senate minority had clearly demonstrated that it could transcend partisan politics for the common good."

Earlier, Oreta proposed a three-step program to keep exporters afloat and prevent mass layoffs in what used to be a sunshine sector of the domestic economy.

Given the global repercussions of the economic slowdown in the US and Japan — the country’s two biggest export markets — Oreta said Philippine trade officials should explore non-traditional exports for our goods and services.

There should also be focus on further developing the services sector where the Philippines has a comparative advantage.

Moreover, she said, the government should encourage exporters to tap the domestic market by selling their goods at wholesale prices via trade fairs and road shows.